The wheelchair classifications have been in action throughout the afternoon at the VICTOR Oceania Para-Badminton Championships 2018 – Men’s Singles 1 and 2 classification and a combined Men’s Doubles 1 and 2 event.
At the end of day one, Australia leads the way with home players topping the table in each category. Richard Davis is celebrating success in the Men’s Singles WH 1 following a solid performance today:
“I’m really happy with my performances! I had to fight in my first singles match which went to three but eventually found my form to win both singles and doubles matches. I have one match left in each discipline tomorrow and hope to continue my winning streak and secure a gold medal!” – says Davis.
Alongside his partner, Grant Manzoney, Davis is currently leading the way in the Men’s Doubles combined WH1 and 2 competition. However, they are closely followed by the Australian duo Richard Engles and Pradeep Hewavitharana. They are also celebrating two wins, after being taken to three games by compatriots Duke Trench-Thiedeman and Douglas Youlten, eventually winning 18-21 21-18 21-16 over 55 minutes!
The Men’s Singles WH2 classification is also looking like anyone’s game with two players currently winning 100% of their matches. Meanwhile, Benjamin Hassleman is taking part in his first para-badminton tournament and will gain plenmty of confidence after winning his first match against Australian, Michael Colin Mcdonald 21-10 21-10. He later went on to compete against Richard Engles but went down 21-16 21-9 over 25 minutes.
“It’s been a very good experience and I hope to come back next year with a few more W’s [wins] next to my name!” – says Hassleman.
All events at the VICTOR Oceania Para-Badminton Championships 2018 are in round-robin format and the winners of each group will take home the gold medal tomorrow!
The results and draw from today are available to view on Tournament Software.
You can tune in to watch some of tomorrow’s matches – the last day of competition – from 10am (local time) on our live-streaming service OVO – click here to watch.
